This is part 3 of a 3 part blog series on importing products from China to sell on Amazon.

 

Part 1 - HOW TO MAKE £29,320 PER MONTH BY KILLING INSECTS

 

Part 2 - HOW TO 'VALIDATE' WITH A SMALL TEST BATCH (...SPENDING $100 OR LESS)

 

Part 3 - [You Are HERE] HOW HAVING A ‘BRAND MINDSET’ WILL 4X YOUR RESULTS (AND WHY YOU SHOULDN'T SELECT PRODUCTS YOU'RE PASSIONATE ABOUT)

 

From Day one when you're actually thinking about looking for a product to import and sell on your Amazon account, you should have in the back of your mind a brand that you'd like to build in the future.

 

It's very important that you have this kind of brand mindset. Let’s look at a few of the reasons why this is so important. First, I want to focus on the big picture of a brand actually is. 

 

When you own a brand, it means that your company has some kind of MESSAGE it wants to bring to the world.

 

You're trying to say something with the products that you sell.

 

Rather than just selling a load of random stuff like a dollar store, you actually have a purpose with the products you're selling.

 

By having a transaction with a customer, you're not only giving them some kind of commodity.

You're actually saying something, and this really does differentiate you from unbranded product sellers.

 

The reason why is because if you're a brand, then you're giving the buyer a ‘human to human’ experience.

 

(look how friendly these ‘innocent’ drinks look with their wooly hats on! ...feels like you’re buying them from an actual PERSON!)

 

 

Especially recently, what seems to be working more and more and more is companies that have this human to human attitude, rather than being a big faceless corporation just trying to shift units.

 

You're displaying that you're passionate about the things you're trying to sell, showing to customers that you care, and this instantly creates trust.

 

We, as human beings, want to buy from people we know, like, and trust. If you have a strong sense of brand with the products you sell, trust becomes inevitable.

 

Let me give you an example rather than just talking about these metaphors.

 

I wanted to draw out something so that you can see the power that a brand could have on you. I want you to think of that dark, brown, fizzy liquid that you buy in a can.

 

There are tons and tons of different brands selling cola out there.

 

There are just so many of them. But the second I mentioned that, one particular company jumps into your mind, doesn't it?

 

Coca-Cola sells more than just brown, fizzy liquid that's relatively bad for your health. Rather than just selling a commodity, they're selling a message.

 

They have got you to associate in your mind, happiness with their product. Coca-Cola equals happiness.

 

Rather than just buying a soft drink, rather than just buying syrupy sugar water with carbon dioxide, ...you're buying happiness.

 

Coca-Cola might be a big corporation, so they're not quite as human as you will be with your brand, but still, you're buying into something more than the sum of its parts.

 

To take an example from a much smaller business, did you ever think that chopping boards in the shape of USA states would catch on?

 

Well Amy any Bill from ‘A Heirloom’ proved they would... Take a look at the about page on their website: 

 

 Their brand’s whole ethos is to provide a sentimental product that’s built to last, and made with care. By reading their story, that actually reinforces the VALUE of the product they sell because it helps you ‘get it’.

 

This is a great example of how a brand can increase the intrinsic value of a product.

 

You feel like you’re giving the money to Amy and Bill for their passion, their expertise, and to be a part of their vision to feel at home, and have a well made product.

Think about it this way...

 

If you saw a chopping board awkwardly cut into the shape of a USA state in your local supermarket, with no explanation as to why it was there,

 

...would you buy it?

 

Probably not!

 

It’s pretty impractical. Surely chopping boards are rectangular for a reason. Why make things so complicated?

 

ESPECIALLY if you got one in the shape of Hawaii!

 

 (This is probably the most useless chopping board I’ve ever seen...)

 

But when you get to know Amy and Bill a little bit, just by reading their about page, you start to ‘get it’.

 

They say that the shape of your state (or your country) is really a big part of your identity.

And in this day and age, we often live far from where we were born.

 

So having a memento in the shape of the place you were born really makes you feel at home.

This simple explanation, (and brilliant branding!) made me go from thinking it was a stupid idea, to wanting to order one in the shape of the United Kingdom!

 

...and because I knew it was gonna be made with care, I’d pay much more than I’d usually fork out for a boring rectangular chopping board.

 

 

If you can emulate this ‘human to human’ experience for your customers, then you can charge more for your products.

 

 

You can convince customers that your products are even better than they are, i.e. deliver intrinsic value, and you can keep customers wanting to buy more and more from you because they feel that you're more than just a company, but you are a human and you are their friend.

 

So the question becomes, "How do we make sure we build the idea of a brand into the products we sell?"

 

Well, it really helps to focus on selling products that you're passionate about.

 

So, it's something that you care about or could care about, would be a great subject for your brand, whether it's pets or family or sports, or arts and crafts.

 

Whatever it is, if you're passionate about it, it definitely helps. However, you don't have to be already passionate about it.

 

It could be something you could get passionate about.

 

If you can just bring the passion of wanting and seeking out quality in products, even if you didn't know what they were before you found them, then that could be the message that your brand delivers.

 

So, if we start thinking about passion, one of the questions that I get a lot of the time is this...

 

 

This is a very valid point because sometimes it gets to the point where the things you're passionate about are quite restrictive, and therefore, the products that you're going to sell might not bring in the income you want them to bring in.

 

So should you focus on the things you're passionate about, really focus on building a brand, or should you focus on selling products that shift, and sell, and will give you great incomes? 

Well, I've got a very simple answer to that question. 

 

To solve this problem, you should keep your brand's identity as open as you possibly can. By doing this, you'll be able to include a broad range of products that meet the criteria

we want them to meet.

 

So, we want products that sell very well.

 

We want products that don't have too much competition. We want to be able to add value with our products.

 

If you are trying to find products in a very narrow area (such as an area YOU happen to be passionate about), then it's going to be very difficult to find products that meet our criteria and fit in our brand, unless you're very lucky.

 

Here's an interesting thing about MY private label products:

 

I'm NOT passionate about ANY of the products I sell on my account.

 

But ...if something is bringing in $3,000 per month profit, you begin to find a passion for it. For me, I'm passionate about building my business. Whether I'm selling moth traps, toys, beauty products or dog food ...doesn't really matter to me. 

 

The freedom my Amazon business provides for me gives me passion to explore other areas of life.

 

So, keep the brand identity as open as physically possible, and you'll make this much easier for yourself.

 

How do we do this?

 

Well, an easy way to do it is to think of a brand as a subject, or a demographic.

 

So a subject could be like I previously mentioned, pets, home and kitchen, sports, toys, kids brand, or baby brand.

 

However, a demographic could be products for men, products for women, products for men in their 40s, products for teenagers, products for people who live in the countryside.

 

Once you start thinking out a broad subject or demographic for your brand, you really do open up the range of products you could offer, but also, you're delivering some kind of message.

 

You're putting some kind of emotion or power behind the products you're selling, therefore increasing their intrinsic value, increasing the human to human experience, and also building trust.

 

So with this in mind, I recommend as soon as you've got your first product selling, or if you already have it selling, you should definitely opt in for the Brand Registry Program with Amazon.

It's really important that you do this as soon as possible, by the way, because it gives you so many advantages.

 

Amazon, as it happens, absolutely loves brands, and I think it's for the reasons we've already discussed.

 

Amazon wants customers to have the best possible experience they can.

 

So if you build a brand rather than just building a product, then Amazon are going to love you, and so will your customers.

 

So, let's talk about specifically why this is going to multiply your results by four.

 

 

Well, once you start to build up a selection of products that's selling well on the Amazon Marketplace, customers will probably start to recognise your logo.

 

They can even click on your brand and see all of the products that you offer, see that they're unified, see that they've all got great reviews.

 

You're going to have slightly more power as you offer your products on the Amazon Marketplace.

What's more, you will actually have more power if you take your products off the Amazon Marketplace and put them onto a website.

 

If you have a brand, if you have a message, then building the website itself could be a much easier experience.

 

You'll know what buttons to press with your design, what the way you layout your pages, with the text that you put on those pages, the images, the way you display everything.

 

If your brand has a significant message, then your website can have a significant message, and then customers will connect with your brand, with your website, with your products instantly, making it much easier for them to want to buy your products.

 

Statistically, it's at least FOUR times easier to sell something to a customer who's already bought from you once.

 

(Want proof of this? Go check out bank statement from last month. How many transactions did you make to NEW companies vs companies you've used before?)

 

So if you can build a loyal base of customers on the Amazon marketplace ...you'll have the potential to multiply your results by four.

 

And also, in the future, if you have a brand rather than just a selection of random products, you have much more potential to actually sell your business on to an investor.

 

Investors want to look for businesses that are already up and running, will continue to work for a long time, and brands fit really, really well within that criteria.

 

So, definitely have a strong think about what your brand and what you'd like your brand to represent, what demographic or subject you'd like to have all your products centred around.

 

And most importantly... GET OUT THERE and start researching some products to import!

 

In my Perfect Private Label training, I'll show you how to research and import products that do more than $2,000 in profit per month each. 

 

You'll learn how to build a brand, use advanced marketing to get your products to sell consistently, and how to run your business from a laptop.

 

(NOTE: need training on how to begin importing private label products? See Ecommerce Freedom's Perfect Private Label course by clicking HERE).